Jacob deGrom takes early exit as late homer off bullpen sinks Mets in 4-2 loss to Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — The Mets got Jacob deGrom back from the disabled list Sunday, but not for long enough. The Phillies chased him after just one, 45-pitch inning and went on to beat the Mets bullpen, 4-2, at Citizens Bank Park.

The Mets split the rain-shortened two-game series with the Phillies, who won their first game against the Amazin's this season.

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DeGrom just came off the DL Sunday morning and had to work extremely hard to get through that bottom of the first, making a tough defensive play to escape unscathed.

"He threw a lot of pitches, his command was off. He hadn't been out there in a while," Mets pitching coach Dave Eiland said. "He's human, his command was off. We saw who he really is when the bases were loaded. But we're not going to run him back out there with 45 pitches. That's careless."

They kept it scoreless into the sixth, when Mickey Callaway decided to stick with Paul Sewald against left-handed hitting pinch hitter Nick Williams, even with lefty specialist Jerry Blevins up and ready to go. In his only other time facing Williams, Sewald had struck him out, while Williams was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Blevins. But Sewald's splits against lefties have been good this season and Callaway decided he needed him to get through the inning.

"Once we got to two outs, we need Sewald to get through that inning, just to make it through the rest of the game really," Callaway said. "Sometimes guys have to get outs. When your starter gets knocked out of the first, some guys have to go multiple innings. "

Sunday, however, Sewald's backdoor slider hung over the plate and Williams crushed a three-run home run.

PLAY OF THE GAME

DeGrom perfectly fielded Carlos Santana's tapper and fired home for the force out of Cesar Hernandez, saving a run in the first.

Yoenis Cespedes got the Mets on the board with a home run. (Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

TURNING POINT

Williams' three-run home run off Sewald in the bottom of the sixth inning.

STAR OF THE GAME

Robert Gsellman pitched three scoreless innings on 42 pitches after deGrom's early exit. In the last 15 days, Gsellman has made six appearances, allowing six earned runs in 11.2 innings. He has thrown 153 pitches over that span.

STAT OF THE DAY

20. The Phillies fouled off 20 pitches against deGrom, helping to run him out of the game.

UNSUNG HERO

Cespedes hit his eighth homer of the season and made a solid defensive play, running down Maikel Franco's shallow fly ball to left and making a shoestring catch, despite nursing a right quad injury.